Can you do a combination of baby-led weaning and giving purees or should you just stick to one or the other? Thanks

Hi Kate - my little one would not initially eat purees so I started on a BLW approach but I kind of did my own thing. IE he would eat roast sweet potato, sandwiches pieces of fruit etc on his own and I would spoon feed him sloppy stuff like porridge and yoghurt/fruit puree. It works for us so I guess my advice would be just do what feels right for you. Don;t feel pressurised into sticking rigidly to any one thing.

And most of all, just keep mealtimes fun, if baby doesn;t want to eat, don;t force the issue just take the food away and try a different meal at the next mealtime. If they are fu they are more likely to eat.

we do both albeit very unintentionally. Started off on purees and she kept trying to grab the spoon and then the food so gave her some toast to try and she managed that fine so now we do a combination of both and I encourage her to touch all her foods and have a go at feeding herself. Guess is just a case of doing what feels right and works for you and LO.

We do loaded spoons or use things like rice cakes to dip into anything that is a puree consistancy.

One of the key parts of BLW is that you let the baby lead which does mean you really shouldn't try to encourage them to eat more than they want but I think you can do this whilst still using purees if that is what works for you both. BLW is also about letting your baby learn to recognise the signals of when their body is full.

Don't really get this whole BLW is not just finger foods, why??? It is just loads of finger foods with a fancy new name!!

It is a concept created by Gill Rapley that is about HOW a baby is fed more than what. She believes that babies should be left to feed themselves. Therefore if you are spoon feeding as well, you are not doing BLW.

I disagree with many of the theories behind her concept. It works for some but not all. I believe it is perfectly possible for a baby to tell its carer what it does and doesn't want when feeding purees and feeding babies some puree-ed food can ensure sufficient nutrient intake if they are not able to cope with finger foods or use spoons themselves. But I believe it is also important to provide the baby with the opportunity to explore whole foods.

Just to say that BLW wasn't created by Gill Rapley - it has existed for many many many years before her. Gill has brought in more into the spotlight though with her and Tracey's recent book about the subject and I believe she is also in the process of doing some research on the subject.

Just to say that BLW wasn't created by Gill Rapley - it has existed for many many many years before her. Gill has brought in more into the spotlight though with her and Tracey's recent book about the subject and I believe she is also in the process of doing some research on the subject.

Could you tell us a bit more about it pre-Gill Rapley. Everything I've read so far stems from Gill Rapley but I'd like to read about anything that pre-dates her work.
Thanks

There are articles on la leche about BLW, thats where I discovered what I wanted to do was an ok concept. That was before I knew it had a name. There are some attached parenting sites too that talk about it.

There are articles on la leche about BLW, thats where I discovered what I wanted to do was an ok concept. That was before I knew it had a name. There are some attached parenting sites too that talk about it.

Thanks, Katy. I've had a look on the website but can't seem to find the articles. I couldn't find any mention of BLW or a similar technique in the articles about introducing solids.
I did find BLW mentioned in some articles but this was with reference to the cessation of breast-feeding rather than the introduction to solids. Are there other artilcles, that I've missed that you could point me to?

I do know of a couple of blogs parents have done pre-rapley's book but what I mean (as it even says in the book) that a lot of parents when they got to their third or so child have done this method for many years as it suited them more than purees and they tended to wait longer to start solids with their subsiquent children. There just wasn't a name for it back then.

I do know of a couple of blogs parents have done pre-rapley's book but what I mean (as it even says in the book) that a lot of parents when they got to their third or so child have done this method for many years as it suited them more than purees and they tended to wait longer to start solids with their subsiquent children. There just wasn't a name for it back then.

I see what you mean. Gill Rapley has just formalised it into a method and nowadays most people use BLW to refer to the Gill Rapley method of weaning.

Thank you!!

Thanks so much for all the info - I want to do it even more now! I've just bought Gill Rapley's book so will read it but it sounds like I should just pick out the bits that are most relevant to me and my daughter.
Kate x

Thanks so much for all the info - I want to do it even more now! I've just bought Gill Rapley's book so will read it but it sounds like I should just pick out the bits that are most relevant to me and my daughter.
Kate x